Solutions to the main challenges for excellent yields in citrus crops

Speech by Vicente Puchol, CEO and technical director of EDYPRO, at CITRUSFORUM-I International Citrus Forum

  • Ensuring quality is the key to competing in demanding markets in Central and Northern Europe.
  • Fertilisation and “tying” of fruit in complex varieties and fattening in highly productive varieties are the most important challenges.

Vicente Puchol, CEO and technical director of EDYPRO, presented the biotechnological solutions to the main challenges for obtaining excellent citrus crops. His scientific intervention took place this morning in the framework of CITRUSFORUM, 1st International Citrus Forum, which has been held since yesterday in the ADDA auditorium in Alicante.

During his presentation, Puchol explained that Spanish citrus growing has to guarantee its excellence and high quality in order to compete in markets as demanding as those of central and northern European countries. “These are consumers who are demanding citrus fruits with great flavour and quality produced in a sustainable way. In Spain we can offer these products, but we need to produce more crops with these characteristics to obtain competitive prices”, he points out.

In this sense, working with biotechnology to achieve crop excellence is a fundamental tool to achieve these objectives “and this is achieved by analysing what problems we have and providing solutions”. Puchol identified the fertilisation and “tying up” of fruit in complex and not very productive varieties, as well as fattening in very productive varieties, as one of the most important challenges facing citriculture.

Vicente Puchol explained the elements of the flower that determine the success of the fruit set: good levels of fertile pollen, the optimum morphological configuration of the ovary, the thickness of the stalk and the disc, the activity of the latter and the sink effect. The aim for a good harvest is to ensure these characteristics.

In low-yielding varieties such as Orri, Oronul or Navel Powel, the application of biotechnological solutions such as FECUNDATOR has a direct influence on the optimal morphological formation of the flowers and is a precursor of post-fertilisation fruit differentiation. This effect makes it possible to work with the first blossoms, being selective and discriminating second and third blossoms when they are unnecessary.

Furthermore, a study carried out by EDYPRO, together with the University of the Balearic Islands, on gas transfer and CO2 capture in the Orri variety, concludes that the greater the transpiration, the more carbohydrates the tree consumes in order to rebalance itself on a daily basis and be able to restore its physiological stability. This excessive consumption of carbohydrates depletes the supply to the fruit in the “sink effect” and leads to the dehydration of many of them. First of all, the cells of the disc that form the union between the calyx and the fruit die and the calyx detaches, leaving the calyx stuck to the tree. It is therefore important to correct the imbalances in the stomatal aperture that influence the uptake of CO2 in order to maintain the photosynthetic capacity of the tree.

Regarding fattening, the CEO and technical director of EDYPRO, showed how the application of biotechnology with MAX QUALITY has a positive influence on varieties such as Tango, Sanguinelli, Orri and Oro Nules. Vicente Puchol has shown the results of management with MAX QUALITY to enhance fattening. This product, applied in the first phase of fattening (from fertilisation to the physiological fall of the fruit), increases the supply and accumulation of metabolites and carbohydrates in the fruit by the tree through photosynthesis. It influences the external morphological configuration of the fruit, increasing and standardising the size and bringing the fruit to the optimal morphological characteristics of the variety, giving it the genetically predetermined shape. It also activates cell division in the rind, thus guaranteeing quality in subsequent stages.

The use of biotechnology in the second fattening phase directly promotes the activation of the genes responsible for the increase of the segments of the pulp, the thickness of the central axis. It also boosts the development of the locules, inside which are the juice vesicles, and increases the size of the vesicular stalk, which will determine the density and specific weight. Inside the fruit, it enhances the organoleptic characteristics of the variety: increasing the size of the oleiferous vesicles and accentuating the contrast of sugars and acidity.

About CITRUSFORUM

EDYPRO is a platinum sponsor of CITRUSFORUM, the 1st International Citrus Forum, which was held in person on 21 and 22 June in Alicante and which will have a 100% online session on 23 June.

The event featured more than 40 presentations by citrus fruit growing professionals who presented the latest advances and developments in the sector.

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